Developing A Social Postal Service Concept

Abstract

This thesis presents a concept development for a social postal service where individual travelers and requesters, wanting items from their homelands, are brought together on a service platform. Many people request their friends to bring items from their homeland or utilize traditional postal service which is usually costly. The social postal service concept fits in-between. The concept provides alternative means to the traditional postal or parcel service.

The thesis is divided into five main sections – introduction, theoretical framework, empirical study, empirical results, and discussion & further study. The introduction chapter contains background information about postal service, sharing economy, the role of technology in sharing economy and related themes. The chapter also mentions current market opportunities, research objectives and limitations. Theoretical framework discusses some of the service design methods which can be useful in the empirical study of the concept development. In empirical study, first brainstorming was performed for the selection of appropriate design tools, then, selected tools are used to gain users’ insights. Online survey was the main method used to gather the insights as survey can be used to reach a higher number of audiences within limited time and cost. The survey was backed by interviews, stakeholder map, and flow charts. SWOT analysis was performed to assert the current position of the concept. The study also analyzes current businesses practicing the social postal service concept. Survey results were first analyzed in the empirical results chapter and then based on the survey results customer journey maps, service blueprints, and a business model were created as part of concept development. The last chapter – discussion & further study – discusses some of the limitations and scope for further studies on the concept implementation.